Featured Works

A Different Hunger by Lila Richards In 1875, after Rufus de Hunte is challenged to an illegal duel, his father, to avoid scandal, banishes him to New Zealand. During the voyage, he meets the intriguing Serafina Radzinskaya and finds himself falling in love with her, only to discover she is …

SpecFicNZ Spotlight

Greetings, writerly and creative folks! Here in the SpecFicNZ Committee, we’ve been hatching plans for how we can get to know you better as well as help you with publicising what you’re up to in your corner of the writing world. One way we want to do this is to …

Mariah’s Prologues, by Grace Bridges

Mariah’s Prologues, By Grace Bridges

A review by Jenn Rackham

Mariah’s Prologues is sixteen short stories of different characters living in a dystopian future in Ireland where food is scarce and corporations rule its famished citizens with an iron fist. Each short story focuses on one character and their relationship to their loved ones and to the world, like a piece of a jigsaw that completes the whole picture bit by bit.

Due to Grace’s brilliant and often visceral writing, many times I was uncomfortable reading such a dark and bleak world, yet I was encouraged to continue reading the stories as each characters were filled with emotions and hopes that were easily identifiable. I found myself rooting for the characters and eager to learn more about the world each chapter.

Every character in Mariah’s Prologues are realistic and reading their struggles makes you feel as if you are standing right there in their run down homes. I felt Grace was writing to show us that in such dark times, what really matters, and how important a small act of kindness, compassion and love is.

There are no big events, explosions or high stake revolutions in the story which might make the story seem monotonous, however I felt the story isn’t designed to be such a heroic tale, but to show the readers the small struggles in everyday life of the citizens and delve into their feelings. It was heartbreaking to see what humans would/wouldn’t do for their loved one’s smiles and what how power could corrupt people.

If you’re into reading multiple in-depth and realistic characters and more into emotions and experiences in a dark dystopian setting, I suggest this book for you!